Here at Box Turtle Bulletin we don’t believe that all opinions are equal or that every “belief” should be “tolerated” – whatever that means. As I’ve said before, we need not tolerate intolerance.

]]>By: jakehttp://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-26626
Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:19:53 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-26626If mormons can’t hide behind a temple then you can’t hide behind “tolerance” You are offensive to me and as I am offensive to you. I wish for my beliefs to be tolerated just as you wish for yours. So how will we see who will provail? Let’s take a vote and see what the people decide. Done.Now stop writing your offensive and hateful things about Latter day saints.
]]>By: David C.http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-26395
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:41:42 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-26395I think the thing that needs silencing is the lies. Whatever side of the question you find yourself on, at least have the common decency to tell the truth plainly.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”
–Daniel Patrick Moynihan, sociologist and politician

For Christians, silencing the lies at least means do not bear false witness, which is a specific commandment. The overdue realization for Christians as they participate in the political system is that “belief” is not the same as fact, and rarely is belief an acceptable substitute for “truth” when battling in the political arena, or bargaining in any other marketplace of ideas.

For everybody engaged in this debate, the truth will stand the test of time, which will in the long run be more helpful to the advancement of society and the common good.

For every Christian follower or leader complaining about the beating they are taking here, elsewhere on the internet, or in the press, I’ll borrow from another statesman for my advice:

Nobody is silencing the Mormons. In fact, they have made it clear that they will continue their hateful campaign against gay people.

What we aren’t going to do is give them a free pass. Their hate is under the microscope right now and is going to stay there. Nobody likes to be called on their lies and anti-gay campaigns. This negative publicity may actually discourage others from being drawn into the ambitious political web the LDS are trying to weave from Utah out through the rest of the country. Let freedom (and free speech) ring!!!

1) Tried (indirectly through its members) to silence the Straight-Gay Alliance Clubs in Utah schools. You’ll remember the fracas this caused some years ago.
2) Owns a part of every major media in strategic parts of the country (i.e.: Bonneville International. Just Google and see the breadth of coverage by the Mormon Church: (L.A., Chicago, Wash. D.C., Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and SLC)
3) Larry H. Miller (a Mormon) owns a long list of theaters and TV stations. (He was the one that censored Brokeback Mountain from being shown in his theaters.
4) The vast satellite network owned by the Mormon Church to broadcast to each and every Ward and Stake House in the WORLD; any church or broadcasting network would envy.

Let’s talk about who is silencing whom? And in my dictionary, the very actions of the LDS Church is highly anti-gay and with the actions of its members as examples, I would say the Mormons are very homophobic.

We will see how the LDS Church and its cache of lawyers work their propaganda organ in January to see just how non-homophobic they are when it comes to saying they are for civil rights for gays.

]]>By: AlexThttp://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-26365
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:55:30 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-26365It appears the greatest degree of hate and bigotry has been on the part of the proponents for gay marriage against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. The teachings of the Church are not at all hidden, they are accessible to anyone who cares to discover for themselves what we truly believe, rather than rely on the news media’s liberal interpretations:

“This is much bigger than just a question of whether or not society should be more tolerant of the homosexual lifestyle. Over past years we have seen unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal, and to characterize those who disagree as narrow-minded, bigoted and unreasonable. Such advocates are quick to demand freedom of speech and thought for themselves, but equally quick to criticize those with a different view and, if possible, to silence them by applying labels like ‘homophobic.'” (Dallin H. Oaks)

]]>By: J.D.http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-24993
Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:39:06 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-24993Let’s remember here that marriage is a states right, according to the US Constitution. California has passed this act 3 times now and Arizona has passed it 2 times. The voice of the people have been heard several times now on this matter. Also, when you mention how wrong it is to vote on civil rights, don’t forget about the constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms, that is voted on more often then Gay marriage, and is not a states right. Anyway, The LDS church, as does any church, has the right to voice political opinions on issues. You can’t remove free speech, just because they are a religious entity.
]]>By: Danihttp://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-24023
Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:37:55 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-24023This is the reason that I am no longer a Mormon. It makes me sick to know that I was once a part of this hypocritical religion. I am a straight woman who will be forever grateful that I learned to think for myself and realized that the prophet is full of it! Hypocritical and judgmental is not the way ANY Christian should behave!
]]>By: Charonhttp://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-23746
Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:11:26 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-23746And to Nac and the other mormons,

You and your church decided by a campaign of lies, hate, and open bigotry to remove a secular right from me and mine. You removed the right to have my religious marriage recognized by a secular authority.

All of you mormons and other supporters of Prop 8 may be pretending to be good and just and showing up those nasty gays for not being enough of a dictionary police, but that religious definition of marriage, whether or not two people, or three, or even a thousand can be married under God has not been at all tampered with. I have attended a hand-fasting of a polyamorous triad, and religious commitment ceremonies and religious marriages for my gay brothers and sisters. They are all married before their various Gods. The State cannot invalidate that just as it can’t invalidate your marriage before God to your wife or even if you were so inclined, wives. Marriages before God cannot be commented on by the state except whether or not they are religiously recognized as marriages by the secular authorities for the secular privileges given for that SECULAR union.

Now, it is possible that by reason of your privilege, you’ve never come across the idea that the marriage you had before God and its recognition by the State were two separate events. Perhaps you believed magical pixies had transformed the laws accordingly and God personally insured that everything who needed to know made sure that a Certificate would be lightning-bolt written into golden tablets and pressed to a sheet and handed to you. But sadly, me and mine have known and you and yours made sure that we would still know that divide for no better reason than your church’s belief that we are not humans deserving of SECULAR recognition. That our marriages cannot be seen as legit as some sort of message or warning against who we are.

Did your Church have the right to do that, argue religiously against the secular recognition of me as human and my marriage as invalid? Some say yes, but I will be cut down by my Creator long before I stand silently and allow you to pretend you did not declare war on me and my family because you believed that you could use a Church to circumvent secular law, that you could say my marriage before God is less than your marriage before God by legal SECULAR fiat because you couldn’t stop some other priest from marrying us. I dare not stand silently by while you do that and then have the gall to say it reflects poorly on ME that YOU took away my secular rights because you are too ignorant to understand the Constitution, the difference between secular and religious marriage, or even the most basic realities of homosexual couples. That you stole my rights and defend the Church that did so because you are so ignorant to believe that history will judge you as anything less than the oppressors in yet another shameful moment for America, no different than Segregationists, or the anti-Women’s Suffrage forces. You aligned yourself next to their place in history and you will reap that.

The Mormon and Catholic Churches are hiding from that history. They KNOW that what they did is heinous. How do I know that? They do not have the force of their convictions to stand beside the victory they so strongly campaigned for. They dare not look me in the eye and say yes, we took away your rights, and we are proud because now the dictionary is safe from your gay rays. No, they hide and whine and say WE are the hateful ones. They KNOW and I strongly suspect YOU KNOW that you have committed a grave and unforgivable sin against your fellow man that will be remembered by historians long after you want to forget. It is possible that they will be unable to survive that truth.

For you and your Church, I pray God has mercy on your souls, and you see what wrongs you have committed before it’s too late. God Bless.

]]>By: PoFoolhttp://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/11/08/5985/comment-page-2#comment-23381
Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:26:09 +0000http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/?p=5985#comment-23381…. I forgot to mention … I do believe the Mormon leadership are to blame. The do spew lies and complete absurdity to there congregations.
]]>